Vivvix Chief: Predictable Linear Ad Mechanisms in Decline
In the crowded advertising intelligence space, there’s a few ways for a startup to gain attention. One way is by introducing new technology, or utilizing AI in a way that impresses jaded brand marketers and agency leads. Other popular approaches are to build relationships with key decision-makers or bring on experienced leadership who can lend their expertise and gravitas to a young organization. Vivvix has decided to do all three.
The ad intelligence firm, which officially launched as an operationally independent brand within the Kantar Group in January of this year, has been cultivating a reputation for its deep specialization in syndicated competitive advertising intelligence across digital and traditional media, including mobile apps, streaming, and social media. The company is currently at a high-growth stage in rapid development, working with brands, agencies, media companies and adtech platforms to find ways to optimize campaign strategies.
Vivvix CEO Andrew Feigenson is also promoting a major new hire, bringing on digital media and adtech veteran Matt Young as chief commercial officer. The hire strengthens Vivvix’s expertise in key areas within the programmatic and adtech space.
Street Fight recently caught up with Young to find out how his experiences at Recurrent Ventures and Motorsport Network prepared him for his new role at Vivvix and what it really means to lead revenue growth initiatives at a company that caters primarily to the brand and agency market.
Q. First off, congratulations on your new position. What do you think you bring to the table that Vivvix was missing previously?
A. I would say the Vivvix table is well set with a depth of knowledge from the folks who are a part of the newly-formed Vivvix executive team. I am honored to be deepening the knowledge base with my industry experience.
While at Recurrent, Yahoo! And Verizon Media, my track record included driving high revenue growth in short periods of time, understanding both sides of the company integration process, and implementing a playbook to elevate my teams. In this new role as CCO, I plan to use those experiences to help Vivvix grow into the go-to advertising intelligence and data source for brands, agencies and media companies.
We’re a new independent company with a new commercial culture, and I’m looking forward to providing support where I can to ensure our teams continue to build and find success.
Q. How does a company like Vivvix successfully break into what has become a very crowded adtech market?
A. When Vivvix launched in January of this year, we set out to create a new industry standard for the most comprehensive advertising intelligence footprint available. Our coverage includes more than $250 billion in media spend and detailed descriptors for more than 35 million creative assets. This crosses traditional and digital media, including connected TV, mobile apps, streaming, search, and display.
We also have the ability to focus exclusively on delivering advertising intelligence that advertisers and media owners need to better understand today’s competitive media landscape. As a company, we understand the rapid pace of change in today’s advertising market and how to provide our clients with speed and user-intuitive tools they need to quickly get to the insights they need, which sets us apart from others within the market.
Q. How do you see Vivvix’s go-to-market approach changing to support customer needs as they evolve over time?
A. We are aware of the ever-changing needs of our clients who want to ensure they have all the information they need to inform strategic decisions and to build successful campaigns. Vivvix has a heritage of diving deeper into creative ad elements to bring relevance across all sectors of the market, and providing a market-leading perspective to better help the industry understand the emerging threats and competitive moves. This is seen in our go-to-market approach which is unique in that we give and add value to strategy cycles within brands, agencies and media planning.
Q. What do you see as the biggest issues facing the adtech industry in 2023?
A. Advertisers will continue to be concerned about finding the right channels for their advertising, in ways that perform and are solid. Linear mechanisms were predictable but are in decline. Meanwhile, digital has proven to be effective for lower funnel metrics, but sometimes suspect in its quality and is increasingly competitive as companies bid for that valuable customer. This will lead to an environment where advertisers need to invest in digital partners to create healthy advertising venues.
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